1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to wireless communications. It relates further to advanced media access control (MAC) capabilities and also to power management in a wireless communications device.
2. Background Art
Wireless communications systems, such as wireless-enabled laptop computers, PDAs, portable music players, portable televisions, personal digital assistants (PDAs), WiFi cards, cell phones, and similar mobile digital devices and mobile analog devices pose multiple challenges for design engineers and users alike.
For all portable electronic devices, and for wireless devices in particular, power management is a concern as battery life is always limited. Reduced power consumption means longer battery life and better system performance. Even routine management of an existing network connection can be a significant drain on battery power. Further, maintaining optimum network connections and other network management tasks can consume substantial battery power.
Users in a wireless environment are typically mobile, and so may come in and out of range of wireless access points (APs). Not all APs may support the connections desired by a user, and not all APs provide optimal access (such as high speed wireless links). In addition, other environmental factors, such as a constantly changing multipath environment, may also influence the quality and availability of network connections. Therefore, establishing, maintaining, and optimizing network connections is an ongoing task with significant power demands. For example, if a network connection is lost altogether, substantial power may be consumed simply by continuing to monitor a “dead” network environment, and further power may be consumed by actively sending probes into the network environment to reestablish the connection as quickly as possible.
As another example, if a user is currently linked to a network via a low speed or low quality network connection, a better network connection should be established as soon as it is available. Similarly, a user may be seeking to use a preferred network connection, but may also be willing to use alternative network connections until a preferred network connection becomes available. This may therefore entail searching for the preferred network connection even while an existing network connection is in place.
A closely related challenge lies in maintaining awareness of the network environment. Wireless hardware benefits from knowing the speed and quality of network connections. The wireless hardware and wireless user may benefit from learning of the availability of alternative or additional network connections, apart from a connection the user may have at the current moment. Maintaining this wireless environmental awareness again places significant power demands on the system.
A further challenge is to provide optimized network connectivity and communications management, including reduced power consumption, while not overly taxing the resources of a primary processor of the wireless communications system. Excessive use of a primary processor for network connectivity support may degrade other aspects of system performance.
What is needed, then, is a system and method in a wireless device for advanced wireless network discovery while minimizing system power consumption. Furthermore, it should also provide for advanced management and maintenance of network connections, that simultaneously provides robust, intelligent connection management, and minimizes the impact on a primary processor of the wireless communications system.